Jet Set

Look at all the pretty colors. Warhol paintings. A bag of
Skittles. Care Bears. Your next printout. There's a reason they
don't make black-and-white TVs anymore. We've been watching
the same slow phase-out with gray-scale-only inkjet printers. Color
inkjet printers are the beasts of burden of choice in many small
businesses. The initial investment is cheap; every company and
their dog makes one; and you can dress them up with fax, copy and
scanning functions. For our nefarious purposes, we'll stick
with straight-up, printing-only color inkjets.

We're not trying to steer you away from a laser printer. If
your business can afford one, go for it. They're usually
cheaper to keep up in the long run. An inkjet may cost $99 in the
bargain bin, but soon you're bound to notice how you have to
shell out $60 for new cartridges every other month to feed its
insatiable appetite for ink. They may look cute and fluffy, but you
have to shop smart to keep them from biting your budget.

Higher dpi resolutions make for higher-quality printed images.
This doesn't matter much when you're just printing out a
memo or invoice, but it makes all the difference when it comes to
graphics and photo-printing. All the printers we assessed come with
ink cartridges and the appropriate software drivers, and cost less
than $300. The Canon, Hewlett-Packard and Epson will work with your
Mac as well as a PC if you spring for an optional USB cable or, in
the Canon's case, an optional USB kit.

The 882C moves along at up to 9 pages per minute (ppm) in black
and 6.5 ppm in color. While the HP DeskJet 882C claims only a 600
dpi black resolution, it boasts "photo-quality" color
printing with PhotoREt II color layering technology. It connects to
your Windows 3.1/95/98/NT or MS-DOS machine through a parallel port
or to your Mac with OS 8.1 or higher through a USB port. The
software bundle includes Microsoft Picture It! Express, Professor
Franklin's Instant Photo Effects and Mindscape's
PrintMaster Gold Publishing Suite. It may be one of the most
expensive printers reviewed here, but Hewlett-Packard has a solid
inkjet reputation, and their PhotoREt II technology should give
good results on graphics and photo projects.

For your Windows 3.1, 95, 98 or NT 4.0 machine, this little
Lexmark provides a hefty 1,200 x 1,200 dpi maximum resolution. That
spiffy resolution will come in handy if you need to print out
high-end graphics or digital photos. For those times when looks
aren't everything, its Quick Print mode automatically sets to
600 x 300 dpi. The Lexmark Z51 sports a fairly speedy 10 ppm in
black or up to 5 ppm in color. A 100-sheet input tray means you
won't have to baby-sit the paper feed all day. It can also
handle up to 25 sheets of labels or transparencies. A one-year
LexExpress next-business-day exchange warranty comes standard.

Somewhere down at the lower end of the price pile resides the
SuperScript 650C. It comes ready with 1,200 x 600 dpi resolution
and prints up to 6 ppm in black and 2 ppm in color. It's a
little slow, but hey, it's cheap! The 120-page input tray spits
out to a 60-page output tray, and the SuperScript 650C works with
Windows 3.x/95/98. The software bundle includes PhotoFinish,
Calendar Creator, Student Research and Writing Center,
Madeline's European Adventure and, best of all, Sesame Street
Art Workshop. However, you can choose only one program to keep. As
you can probably tell, this printer is aimed mostly at the
home/family user, but if you don't mind the not-real-useful
software bundle, you probably won't find resolution this high
at a lower price.

Compaq's top model inkjet printer is the
second-lowest-priced shown here. Still, it features a high 1,200 x
1,200 dpi max resolution. At 7 ppm in black and 3.5 ppm in color,
it's no slouch in the speed zone. An optional photo cartridge
($44.99 street) can be purchased to increase the printer's
color range for more accurate photo printing. The bundled software
package includes Corel Print House Magic 4.0 Select and ArcSoft
Photo Printer V2.OLE (Web enabled). Requirements include Windows
3.1/95/98/NT 4.0.

This printer gets around. Its USB connection is good to go for
any USB-equipped PC or Mac. It can also hook up to a parallel port
PC or regular Mac serial connection. Adobe PhotoDeluxe and
Broderbund's Print Shop PressWriter are included on CD-ROM. A
nice 1,440 x 720 dpi max resolution keeps you covered on both the
type and graphics fronts. The print speed of 6 ppm in black is just
slightly slower than most other printers shown here. Color printing
still matches up with 5 ppm. Paper feeder capacity is 100 sheets of
paper and up to 10 envelopes. Also, this Epson is the only printer
here that's compatible with older, non-USB Macs.

The BJC-6000's maximum resolution of 1,440 x 720 dpi
requires special photo glossy inkjet paper. But for most purposes,
you probably won't need to print at 1,440 x 720. At lower dpis,
this printer clocks in with up to 8 ppm in black and 5 ppm in
color. By purchasing an optional Canon USB kit ($69 street), this
Windows 3.1/95/98/NT 4.0 printer becomes a Mac printer. It has a
130-sheet paper capacity and comes with a host of software,
including Adobe PhotoDeluxe Business Edition, Design Essentials,
Office in Color and Web-Record. The BJC-6000 comes with a one-year
warranty.

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